Each year we celebrate International Lego Classicism Day and this year we look to the many people who have kept history alive through LEGO.
This year we encourage you to get inspired by Liam D. Jensen and the Greek revolution figures which he created to mark the bicentenary of the Greek revolution last year.
Mr Jensen founded this social media event five years ago and since then it has seen worldwide success, with people all over the world sharing their participation online with their historical figures.
To participate, people can share a photo of their favourite LEGO ancient world model, build their favourite classical building with LEGO bricks, or for those who live in a part of the world where there are classical ruins, take a photo of a LEGO figure sitting at a famous ancient site and share it with everyone.
Make sure you don’t forget to add the hashtags #ILCD #ILCD2022 #InternationalLegoClassicismDay #InternationalLegoClassicismDay2022 to join the online community.
Past participants across the world have included school children, libraries, university classics departments, museums and everyday individuals including the British Museum, the Acropolis Museum, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Warwick.
This year’s event will be hosted by the University of Sydney at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
Some of this year’s participants include:
Professor Dame Mary Beard (TV presenter, editor of Times Literary Review A Don’s Life and university professor),
Natalie Haynes (Comedian, author, and host of Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics on BBC Radio 4),
Prof. Michael Scott (Warwick University & TV presenter),
Nathan Sawaya, Art of the Brick (international US artist and author) and the Crews Project, University of Cambridge.
Walking into Five Ways Fish Bar in the remote Queensland town of Ayr instantly takes you back to the good old days of Greek fish and chip shops.
That’s because the owners, Maria and George Vouyioukas, have proudly preserved all the iconic fixtures and cooking techniques they’ve been using at the shop since it opened in 1978.
“We still fillet our fish. We clean the calamari. We clean the prawns. We still have the normal till. I don’t have a computer. We don’t even have online deliveries, there’s no place for that,” Maria tells The Greek Herald exclusively.
“I’m still the old-fashioned fish shop. Up till five years ago we were still cutting our own chips.”
From hate to success:
The petrol station where the fish and chip shop is now housed.
Maria’s journey to owning Five Ways Fish Bar all began in 1965 when her family first migrated from Greece to North Queensland, where her father worked as a cane cutter and her mother picked vegetables.
Maria says her parents didn’t want her to go to university so “they thought it was a good idea if I had my own business and they chose to put me in a fish and chip shop.”
“My parents didn’t know very much English so of course, I was out the front and my parents did the cutting of the fish and the chips and the cooking and I was the business person,” Maria explains.
“But to be honest with you, I hated the fish shop. I cried from the first week they put me into it but my parents put all the money into it and you know, back then you just did what you had to do.”
Maria Vouyioukas at Five Ways Fish Bar.
Eventually, Maria was set up with and later married her husband, George, who turned out to be a cook. Maria’s parents stopped working at the fish and chip shop and George helped out instead.
“We’ve been here ever since,” Maria says with a charismatic laugh. “Even my two children grew up in the fish shop.”
Staying open for business in North Queensland:
After 45 years, Five Ways Fish Bar is now the only Greek-owned fish and chip shop in Ayr.
This is a fact Maria is especially proud of as she’s not only witnessed three generations of people pass through her doors, but she’s also managed to beat the constant challenges which face small businesses in remote areas.
What the fish and chip shop looks like now after 44 years.
“It’s a job where you can’t find a lot of people. When I get very busy because staff is very limited here, my children come and help,” Maria says.
“There’s also been a big change in the people. When we first opened, people would ring up in the morning and put their order in for 6pm, but now they ring up at 6pm and want it straight away.
“We’re lucky though that we’re still a small town. We still have that one-on-one contact.”
In saying this, we just had to ask what’s next for Maria and George and their trusty fish and chip shop.
Maria says they plan to keep it open for a few more years before retiring and taking on more volunteer work.
“I still don’t like it. I can’t say it’s my love,” Maria concludes with her typical frankness.
“But obviously I’m a responsible person and I will not do half jobs. I’ve taken on this responsibility and now I’m more determined to see it to the end.”
The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, once said: ‘Healthy mind in a healthy body.’ This philosophy is something which Dr Theodora Terzis lives by and practices at her doctor’s practice, Soma Medical.
To find out more about Dr Terzis, The Greek Herald had a quick chat with her and this is what she had to say.
1. Tell us about your Greek heritage and upbringing.
My father was born in a very small village called Chovoli (population in 2011 was 85 people), in Kalavrita, Greece. My mum came from a very cosmopolitan city in comparison, called Dali which is in Nicosia, Cyprus. They met in Australia in the early 80s, got married and had two children, my younger brother Peter and myself.
From a young age, they instilled in us a love for our Greek culture and heritage – it was very important for them to pass on their history, religion, culture, values and stories to their children, not only as a way of continuing our language and traditions but to help them remain connected to their family, to their ‘patrida’– it was the last piece of home that they had.
As far as a Greek upbringing goes, I would say that I had a very typical upbringing for a child of Greek migrant parents. I went to Greek dancing, Greek afternoon school in primary school and Sunday School. I went on to study Greek in high school, coming second in the state in what was called 3-unit Greek at the time, and then even went on to convince my lecturers to allow me to study Greek whilst enrolled in a Medical Science course at the University of Sydney.
To me, my Greek heritage is who I am. Understanding my roots and where I come from has always helped me to understand my place in the world – after all, a person without knowledge of their origin is like a tree without roots. It is also how I want to raise my kids.
2. Why did you decide to study medicine and become a doctor?
As a young girl, I had a best friend whose dad was a doctor. He remains a prominent figure in the Greek community and together with his family they have helped many people, always striving for justice and the promotion of Greek culture and language. I saw him as a pillar of inspiration.
I had to overcome many obstacles to get to where I am today. I was told many times along the way that I would never make it. After experiencing the impact of disease on a personal level through my dad, it further solidified my determination to succeed. It became important to me to be the doctor that I wish he had – someone who would offer support and care to him, help prevent suffering and advocate for people, especially for those that have difficulty speaking the language or navigating the healthcare system.
3. Tell us a little bit about your career background.
I am a fully qualified General Practioner, completing my medical studies in 2013. I have since worked in a number of medical practices and hospitals across Sydney.
Before starting General Practice, I worked at RPA Hospital across a wide range of specialties, where I developed a special interest in Paediatrics, Women’s Health, Geriatric and Rehabilitation Medicine and Hospital in the Home services.
When I first started in General Practice, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work for some wonderful Greek doctors in the Canterbury-Bankstown area. At this time, a very well respected, family-oriented GP by the name of Dr John Macarounas was looking to retire and asked me to take over care of some of his patients. Dr Macarounas’ legacy of being the traditional family GP that knows and cares for the family from cradle to grave is what is important for me to carry on in my practice. This is how Soma Medical was born.
After moving around a lot in the last few years of my training, I wanted to open up a practice of my own, in an area that was convenient for my patients. Soma Medical is a practice that aims to provide general medical care to patients of all ages with any medical conditions. ‘Healthy mind in a healthy body’ from Hippocrates (the ‘father of modern medicine’) stresses the importance of focusing on the relationship between body and mind, which is the philosophy of Soma Medical. Our aim is to provide whole-person care to our patients.
4. What are the challenges / rewards of your job?
The rewards are too many to mention! Medicine is a noble profession that has taught me a lot about humanity, life and virtues such as compassion, the desire to relieve human suffering and the sacred bond between doctor and patient. I am honestly humbled by my patients every single day.
The challenges are also many. As we have seen with the pandemic, our environment is always changing, new viruses can emerge at any time and we as doctors have to be ready for such a response. We have to remain up-to-date with information, resourceful and ready to make difficult decisions to protect, treat and care for the most vulnerable in our communities.
5. Do you encourage other females to study medicine? Why / Why not?
Absolutely! Studies have shown that female GPs, especially, tend to listen more and hence their patients often tend to fare better!
6. Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I just want to reiterate what I’ve said before. The last few years have been very challenging for all of us as we have tried to navigate the COVID-9 pandemic. If it has taught us anything, it is how important it is to have a good, reliable GP, who knows you, knows your family, understands your history and cares.
This is the only way we can tackle misinformation, fear, anxiety and actually get the advice we need to help us make the right decisions for us and our family. We want to be there in the good times and the bad, not just to sign medical certificates and hand out prescriptions!
Kon Konstantaras is set to make history this weekend as he prepares to coach the first Greek women’s football team, The Herald Sun reports.
Konstantaras has been appointed the team’s mentor for the Australia Football International (AFI) World 9s tournament to be held on Saturday at Box Hill Rugby Club.
Konstantaras said it was a “privilege” to be given a chance to lead the country of his birth.
Members of the inaugural Greek women’s team Meagan Kovatchev, Joanna Sofos (vice-captain), Caitlyn Crameri, Chantelle McDonald (captain) and Krystle Jewell.
“I’m really looking forward to the honour of being involved in this weekend’s competition,” he told The Herald Sun.
“I think we’ve managed to put together a fantastic team which has a mix of experience and inexperience.”
The Greek side will play three games on Saturday against Nauru, the United Nations and Australia.
These quick and easy olive bites are the perfect addition to your party menu.
This simple, no-knead dough, along with the olive explosion, will create “an absolute dance on your taste buds,” Greek food blogger, Helen Demetriou, explains.
For some mouth-watering recipes that are sure to impress at any party, Helen’s Kouzina has you covered.
Photo: Helen’s Kouzina
Ingredients:
Dough
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup peanut oil or light olive oil
1 cup orange juice
Olive tapenade
2 cups pitted olives, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 tablespoon of dried mint
Method:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Combine self-raising flour, peanut oil and orange juice in a bowl and mix.
Mix together pitted olives, red onions and dried mint to create tapenade.
Take some dough and flatten to create small circle.
Spoon in the tapenade mixture and fold edged over to create the bites.
Bake for 15 mins until golden brown.
Can be served hot or cold.
Photo: Helen’s Kouzina
*Check out Helen’s Kouzina for all of Helen’s amazing recipes that are posted daily.
The Acropolis of Athens is the best-known archaeological site of Greece. But that does not necessarily mean that it is well understood. Among the scholars who try to uncover its ancient secrets is Dr. Janric van Rookhuijzen, researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
In 2019, he published an article concluding that the name “Parthenon” (an ancient Greek term meaning ‘room of the virgins’) originally belonged not with the great temple of Athena on the Acropolis, but rather with an entirely different temple of the goddess nearby: the one whose roof is supported by iconic virgin statues called caryatids. The theory caused quite a stir among archaeologists and the wider public.
Though many welcomed the new theory, not everyone is entirely convinced yet. Van Rookhuijzen is nevertheless pleased to have renewed the debate. “We have to keep an open mind about the Acropolis buildings rather than take for granted what we thought we knew. The traditional views are often centuries old, based on unconfirmed assumptions, and do not explain all the data from inscriptions and historical texts.”
Van Rookhuijzen is now ready to share a new provocative insight on the temple of the caryatids. The building is today commonly known as the Erechtheion – the sanctuary of the mythical Athenian king Erechtheus. The ancient Athenians believed that Erechtheus was an alter ego of Poseidon. “However, many archaeologists are not happy with the traditional idea that the caryatid temple was the Erechtheion. They think that the Erechtheion needs to be sought elsewhere.”
In his new study in the academic journal Kernos, van Rookhuijzen analyzed all historical sources for the Erechtheion, to confirm that the Erechtheion cannot be identified with the temple of the caryatids. Ancient authors, such as the playwright Euripides, rather describe the Erechtheion as a destroyed, yet sacred site in the middle of the Acropolis.
Three caves in the north face of the Acropolis – the mark of Poseidon’s trident? (photo by J.Z. van Rookhuijzen).
As it happens, the middle of the Acropolis sports a mysterious structure: the massive foundation of an ancient temple. The temple itself has long vanished after it fell victim to the invading Persians in 480 BCE. Nevertheless, the Athenians continued to venerate the sacred site itself for centuries. After antiquity, the structure was forgotten and rediscovered as late as 1885 by the renowned German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld. Van Rookhuijzen believes that the foundation could just be the elusive sanctuary of Erechtheus: “This sacred structure ticks all the boxes of the Erechtheion.”
The long-held, but probably erroneous belief that the temple of the caryatids was the Erechtheion is partially based on the idea that a mark of Poseidon’s trident was visible in a gap of the caryatid temple’s pavement. However, the ancient sources point in a different direction for that trident mark.
Van Rookhuijzen explains: “An ancient visitor to Athens wrote that the enormous trident mark was to be seen from a distance in the north face of the Acropolis. As it happens, three caves here seem to form the impression of a trident. Ancient Athenians apparently believed that Poseidon had thrusted his mighty weapon into the rock and created the caves. I was rather surprised that no-one before me has come up with this idea. If I’m correct, Poseidon’s trident mark was all this time hidden in plain sight.”
The Acropolis is not only a contested place for scholars. In one of the world’s most prominent cases of disputed heritage, many of the temple sculptures (including one of the caryatids) were taken to the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century by Lord Elgin. They currently reside in the British Museum in London. Since the 1980s, calls for the return of the artworks to Athens have been numerous and loud, particularly from Greeks all around the world.
“The calls for restitution show how the Acropolis is in the hearts and souls of the Greeks, and many other people as well” notes van Rookhuijzen. From his position as a scholar, he remarks that it is undesirable that one of the most important legacies of Greek antiquity is divided over different places. “Leaving aside the extremely complicated legal considerations and understandable emotions on both sides, the current situation just doesn’t make sense. How can we fully appreciate and understand these artworks if they continue to be divided?”
Change is in the air as a piece of the great frieze of the Parthenon (the great temple, to be precise) was recently returned from Palermo’s Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum to Athens in a loan arrangement. Thousands of years after their creation, new chapters continue to be opened for the ancient temples: “The Acropolis of Athens is among the most fascinating archaeological sites of the European continent. It deserves careful preservation, study, and contemplation. Its story is far from told.”
Education on consent will be made mandatory in all Australian schools, after state and federal ministers unanimously agreed to enshrine it in the curriculum.
The move was confirmed by Senator Jonathon Duniam on Thursday and comes after a year of extensive public pressure.
One of the women behind this pressure was Chanel Contos, a former Sydney private school student.
In February 2021, Ms Contos polled her Instagram followers and asked if they or someone close to them had been sexually assaulted by someone when they were at school.
After more than 200 people responded with “yes” in just 24 hours, Ms Contos launched an online petition calling for more holistic and earlier consent education in Australia.
The petition has since gained 44,000 signatures, with more than 6,600 people sharing their stories of sexual assault.
On Instagram, Ms Contos celebrated Thursday’s announcement.
“This monumental change has only been made possible because of the tens of thousands of voices that have supported this movement,” she wrote. “We did it.”
Education ministers are due to meet in April to finalise the new curriculum, which is set to be taught from the 2023 school year onwards.
It was only a few years ago that the seaside village of Agii Apostoli on the island of Evia in Greece was enjoying a simple life drawing modest income from tourism and fishing.
Today, the once-peaceful village is ringed by towering wind turbines whose night lights and whirring sounds are equivalent to daily “torture,” locals say.
“Why did you allow this crime to take place?”
The island of Evia, which is 80 kilometres east of Athens and the second largest island in Greece after Crete, was one of the first of the country’s regions to host wind farms almost two decades ago.
Since then, the turbines have multiplied, mainly in the less populated areas of the island. In the local municipality of Karystos, more than 400 turbines envelop the land with some of them even along the main roads.
Local employee, Stamatoula Karava, told local media: “long-term visitors ask us, why did you allow this crime to take place?”
“It’s a scandal”
Chryssoula Bereti, who chairs the Karystos anti-wind farm front, says the oldest turbines have now fallen into disuse although no plans to remove them and recycle their parts have been made.
“It’s a scandal,” she exclaimed.
In line with the EU clean energy targets, Greece has reduced its once-overwhelming reliance on lignite for electricity production to around 10 percent.
Forty percent of Greek power plants are now gas-fired and 30 percent run on renewable resources, of which 18 percent are wind turbines.
With its predisposition for high winds, the island of Evia is a natural location for wind farms, but critics say that the expansion has gone too far.
In response to the mounting criticism, the Mitsotakis government last month announced that six mountain ranges in central Greece, the Peloponnese, Crete and the island of Samothrace would be given additional protection status against future energy instructed development.
On Wednesday, February 16, the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) Electoral Committee called to a meeting at the Greek Centre the 19 successful candidates from the most recent Greek Community elections.
The meeting was conducted according the GCM’s rules in which following a 9 day waiting period, the Electoral Committee invites the candidates to vote in the GCM’s office-bearers for the coming term.
The election of the community’s executive team went smoothly with a unanimous election process resulting in the following Executive Team:
The Board was then handed the reins to the next term by the Electoral Committee and then the Consul General of Victoria from Greece, Emmanuel Kakavelakis, congratulated the new team and wished them all the best for their next term.
Newly elected President, Bill Papastergiadis said: “It is a great honour to once again Chair the Board of this historic organisation and to lead a team that is so enthusiastic about the organisation and our community at large.”
“The next term will hopefully see us start to emerge from this pandemic’s shadow and we do so with a team that will enthusiastically tackle all the speed humps and grab all opportunities that we create along the way,” Mr Papastergiadis added.
Papastergiadis on election day.
The GCM Board features a number of returning members but also sees an influx of eight new members into its ranks.
“Humbling,” “Exciting” and “Thankful” were all words repeated by many of the new members to the Board, such as Dean Kotsianis, Mena Giannelis and Vicky Kyritsis, as they prepared for their stewardship of the Greek Community of Melbourne.
Anthie Sidiropoulos said: “I am excited about be back on the GCM Board and humbled that it’s as a Vice President. I look forward to working with the new Board.”
Finally, long running Education advocate, Nick Dallas, was keen to press an “investment in education” as “the cornerstone in the new Board’s agenda.”
Two NSW Police officers, who had sex with a Sydney schoolgirl after one of them met her while working, have officially left law enforcement, The Daily Telegraph reports.
James Delinicolis, 30, and Angelo Dellosa, 31, both pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office over the 2020 incident with the 17-year-old, known only by the pseudonym Violet.
In March 2020, Delinicolis was stationed at a bus stop at Cabramatta railway station when he saw Violet wearing a school uniform. According to details from the court, the policeman asked her several intrusive questions before handing her his number.
Angelo Dellosa. Photo: NCA NewsWire / Steven Saphore.
That same day, Violet and Delinicolis met up at a hotel and engaged in sexual acts. Dellosa soon arrived and also engaged in sexual acts, all of which have been supressed by the court. A complaint by Violet prompted their arrest.
Following a court case, Delinicolis was sentenced to a two-year intensive correction order, while Dellosa was handed an 18-month community corrections order.
